بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

Allah highlights to us in Surat Az-zumar an attitude that can only lead us astray. Allah says in the Qur’an:

“And when adversity touches man, he calls upon his Lord, turning to Him [alone]; then when He bestows on him a favor from Himself, he forgets Him whom he called upon before, and he attributes to Allah equals to mislead [people] from His way. Say, “Enjoy your disbelief for a little; indeed, you are of the companions of the Fire.” [39:8]

Allah speaks of the people who only turn to Him when they are in need. When facing trouble, you will find them fulfilling the rights of Allah, trying their best to avoid sins. Yet as soon as Allah takes the trouble away, their belief fades along with their good deeds.

The word Allah uses here for trouble is “dur” which accounts for all types of issues whether it is physical or psychological etc. He also uses the word “khawalnahou” derived from the verb “khawala” which means wrapped up, layer after layer, which in this ayah means favour after favour. So once all the favours were given to these people, they become blinded and forget who they called to when they had trouble.

Then He goes further and speaks of the next step these people take which is to deceive others into their own deviant ways. An example could be someone struggling with money and begged Allah for help. Once Allah fulfils this person’s financial needs, they drift away from Him and then move onto haram income. When others look at this person and see the apparent blessings they would want the same and thus follow this person’s inpermissible ways.

Let us ask ourselves, are we only close to Allah when we need help? Or do we stick by our Deen in both rough and easy times?

May Allah make us of those who are truly pious in all situations and keep us from drifting away from Islam through the blinding cloud of  temporary materialism, let us remind ourselves that Allah says:

“Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children – like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion.” [57:20]

Allah knows best.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

“And when Moses arrived at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, “My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You.” [ Allah ] said, “You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me.” But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Moses fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, “Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first of the believers.” [7:143]

Here Allah narrates to us a conversation He had with Musa. After many conversations with Allah, Musa wished to see Allah with his own eyes. To Allah, this has crossed the line seeing as Musa was already granted the pleasure of speech with Him which other prophets and people were not. Allah teaches him a lesson by destroying a mountain in front of his eyes and in turn shows us too, that what Allah has given us is enough.

We see many people especially in our day and age that say “I will believe it when I see it” and use this to deny many things including Allah. There are also many people who are already convinced that the Qur’an is from the creator, yet they wish to see something of the unseen or a miracle of the eye in order to develop their belief. Well, Allah continues in the next verse:

“[ Allah ] said, “O Moses, I have chosen you over the people with My messages and My words [to you]. So take what I have given you and be among the grateful.” [7:144]

Musa was given Allah’s speech and he was told to grasp it and be grateful, and we were given the Qur’an. Those who are seeking beyond the Qur’an to secure their belief have not truly grasped the word of Allah; those who have really engaged the book will know that there is nothing more to ask for. The book of Allah in its infinite wisdom is more than enough for our faith, if only we were to take a hold of it.

Let us also not forget that Allah guides those who open their heart to Him and it will not be through seeing the unseen or some sort of miracle that will guide us – as there were many generations in the past who were given these miracles and still denied Allah. Allah says:

“And those who disbelieved say, “Why has a sign not been sent down to him from his Lord?” Say, [O Muhammad], “Indeed, Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him] -” [13:27]

May Allah make us of those who truly grasp the book of Allah.

Allah knows best.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

Allah says in the Qur’an:

“The Day every soul will find what it has done of good present [before it] and what it has done of evil, it will wish that between itself and that [evil] was a great distance. And Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is Compassionate to [His] servants.” [3:30]

Allah gives a description of how our deeds will be placed in front of us on the day of judgement. As we know everything is recorded; all our good and bad deeds, how ever big or small are recorded. The phrase “min kheyrin” (from the good deeds) tells us that it includes all the good deeds even the good actions that are not even done on purpose. Sometimes we do good without even realising it, Allah still writes it down as a hasanah.

However, this also applies to bad deeds. Bad deeds that we are not conscious of will also be brought in front of our eyes. For these people they will wish that there was a lifetime between them and these sins. It’s almost as if the people are saying that they wish they had another life to never commit anything of what they were shown. Allahs follows this up with a warning of Himself – to remind us that confronting Him with these sins will be an even bigger trial.

Although Allah paints this scary picture in the middle of the ayah, He then adds something beautiful, something we should not take for granted. He tells us, that He is compassionate to His people. After beginning with hope of the good deeds we don’t realise we do, He ends with hope – the fact that Allah leans more towards mercy than punishment.

May Allah make us of those that are conscious of the bad deeds we commit and of those who make a lot of Istighfar. Let us not forget: the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “By the One in Whose Hand my soul is! If you did not commit sins, Allah would replace you with a people who would commit sins and seek forgiveness from Allah; and Allah will certainly forgive them.” [Muslim]

Allah knows best.